Why I'm Separating my Blog and Music Pages

byMic Manaras

I’ve said it many times before in previous posts, and like everything, I’ve been very open and honest; my intention for starting my blog was to share my experiences in order to build relationships with like-minded people to one day have an audience for my music.

In the four months since I started my blog, sharing my stories and revelations, I’ve now realized that I in fact have started to build a true relationship with my growing audience, however my assumption was off.

It made a lot of sense on paper. I used to sell garage door openers by creating lasting friendships with the people I met on my business trips. Never a hard sell, more of a “let’s be friends and if you need anything let me know!”, so why wouldn’t it work with music?

It was the strategy I was going with but I’m now seeing why it was a little off. When I met someone in the garage door industry, I’d meet them on the premise that I’d have a product for them to buy, I didn’t just knock on a stranger’s door, become friends with them and 6 months later randomly start pushing garage door openers on them!

That’s where I’m starting to see, although people have been generally positive with my music, it’s not what they signed up for. I knocked on their doors with realizations and thought provoking ideas, not music. The more I posted the more I became familiar and so I started to receive messages, have conversations, and chat in the comments sections. All of these amazing interactions were based on value I believe I provided through my thoughts and writing.

If I were to eventually put out a product, because I do need to make a living, it would probably make much more sense if it were more in tune with my writing, like a book; not melodramatic punk rock, it’s way too different and not fair to my audience.

And so as I continue to share with you, my friends, as I learn and adapt, I’m not writing this blog to tell you I’m quitting my blog, not even close. I’m writing to tell you I’m going to continue writing my blog and posting my thoughts here on Facebook because I really enjoy it and it’s been an amazing experience so far.

However I am going to build a new page for my music where I’ll focus on just that, music, so I can keep the two separate and deliver content that people signed up for, nothing more, nothing less.

I don’t want to bait and switch anyone, although it wasn’t my intention, I didn’t actually know how any of this would roll out when I started. (I honestly didn’t even know if anyone would care at all!) But that’s the beauty of just starting, it can lead to unknown and amazing things. I started writing to build an audience for my music, well it turns out I built a community thru my writing based on shared experiences and it’s showing me I could potentially have a career as a writer or speaker on day; who’d have known!?

And that’s why I’m separating the two, although I might have some cross-over, I do believe my music and my writing are comprised of completely different audiences. So it’s almost like I’m a company with different product lines, writing and music; just because I’m Toyota, doesn’t mean I can assume Prius drivers should care about the new Tacoma truck, or vice versa.

This is why I’m so happy to have started this blog, whatever the reasons. It allows me to voice what I’m thinking or contemplating and the exercise allows me to work it out and simplify things so I can learn from my experiences. With every blog post comes a clear lesson and despite how specific it may be to my life, I’ve come to see the things I go through aren’t so different from everyone else’s. The variables of the formula may change but the rules remain.

I love the fact that as soon as I learn something new, I can adapt my path, and that’s not something I would’ve been so willing to do or admit not too long ago. I had a clear idea and hypothesis, and I got started. I’m really starting to see that regardless of the hypothesis, purely getting started is the true factor of growth and learning.

I love to admit I was wrong, because it means I did something, it allows me to learn, and look what happened, I accidentally started a real blog, with amazing people taking part in it every single day; hardly a mistake!

So I’m adjusting by keeping my blog page simply about the blog content, realizations, life lessons and videos about that subject matter. And I’m starting a brand new Facebook page for my music (https://www.facebook.com/ohmicmusic) where you are free to like if you happen to be a fan of my music; no stress!

I was a little nervous when I first realized I had to adjust my strategy, but I’m realizing it’s part of the game, and it’s the fun of covering new ground every day!

Thanks as always for being great and I look forward to writing more blogs and hearing from your experiences!